Today's Stage 3 covers a relatively short 157.1km from Burgos to Soria. The course looks a bit undulating and the finale looks to have a bit of a slope to it. It should likely see some more attempts to break things up in some crosswinds, and a sprint finish. Petacchi won yesterday's sprint, but Gold Jersey van Heeswijk didn't contest it... and he says that he likes his chances if it comes to a sprint today.

Yes, the finish is slightly uphill here, so if things turn out on a mass sprint we're more likely to see Van Heeswijk, Zabel, Freire and Zanotti up front. In the Giro we saw that Petacchi and his Fassa train can falter on uphill sprints.

As we join the race we have 4 leaders: Veneberg, Flickinger, Joachim and Hulsmans. About 50 kilometers have been covered so far; so more or less 100 kms to go in this short stage of 157km. The peloton is taking it easy, spread all over the road. Now USPS riding at the front, with Joachim up front.

We have warm weather today in the Vuelta...a very pressing kind of heat, so maybe that will be a problem for the more Northern riders today. Totally different from last year's Vuelta, which was incredibly rainy in the first week!

According to Vuelta officials, there is more rain forecast for today. However, this was the case yesterday too, and none materialized.

15.29 CET. 83 kms to go. Still 4 leaders up front. Their advantage is 6.50.

The pace is now being picked up in the peloton, with the Saecos working! Maybe the lead will slowly start dropping now. Damiano Cunego isn't without chances on today's finish, but it remains to be seen if he can take on the real power-sprinters. Paradoxically, the 4 are increasing their lead to 7.20...

The four leaders are each doing their equal share of the work, even Joachim is fully cooperating. If the break fails it won't be because of bad understanding!

Still 7.30 for the leaders now, with Saeco leading the peloton. Di Luca likes finishes with a slight uphill... he's won stages in the Giro on finishes like that before. Yes, and he's got a fast man, Bonomi, who can do his lead-out if necessary.

Yesterday Max Van Heeswijk told Dutch reporter Mart Smeets that USPS' objective was to keep the leader's jersey up until the ITT Saturday. Instead of their Tour tactic with Voeckler...

Wednesday there is an uphill finish. The climbs are only Cat 2 and Cat 3, but it should be enough to shed the sprinters (except maybe Zabel and O'Grady, and of course Valverde).

It is to be expected, though, that Valverde won't be mingling in the (mass) sprints like he did last year...now that he's 'really' going for the GC he probably won't take the risks that come with mass sprints.

Joachim is the virtual Gold Jersey on the road right now. Postal will be happy with whatever happens, whether the group stays away or it comes to a sprint. Either way, with the break sucking up all the intermediate time bonuses, the GC lead should be theirs for another day.

15.55 CET. 63 kms to go. Some riders are being incredibly dangerous coming through the feed zone...they ride behind the soigneurs' backs, and it's an unwritten rule of the peloton that you don't do that..it's very dangerous for both the rider and soigneur.

Meanwhile, the Saecos see that no one is immediately helping them out and stop working at the front, apparently thinking "We're not stupid"!

The 4 escapados are now at an intermediate sprint: 6" for Joachim, 4" for Veneberg, 2" for Flickinger. No real sprinting was done, but this is good for the former champion of Luxembourg. If Joachim stays away, he'll have a good lead on GC.

Joachim started only 2" behind van Heeswijk on GC today, so that will put him 4" above his teammate if it all comes back together. And talking about the champion of Luxembourg: he has only 2 wins on his palmares; 2 times Luxembourgian champion. It used to be a piece of cake, but recently he's gotten some serious competition with Kirchen, Schleck and co.

The peloton is spread out over the road now...nobody's working! And knowing the Spanish press, they'll try to scandalize it - that the peloton stops working without a Spanish rider up front!

16.03 CET. 59kms to go ...things are looking good for the break.

The peloton now passes the next intermediate sprint, and is a full 9 minutes behind the four leaders! Looks like it's all over for the sprinters today...A shame really...between 7 mountain finishes and 3 time trials there aren't that many chances left for the sprinters.

One of the leaders today, Thorwald Veneberg, is a doctor in physionomy!

16.18 CET. 50 km to go. It's started raining now! And hard, too...after all that heat, rain can hit hard...

Of the 4 leaders, only Veneburg has some notable climbing skills. But those reach up to the middle mountains, at most.

Now the rain has gone as quickly as it came...the Cofidis boys are now leading the peloton, and we see the four leaders negotiating about the upcoming intermediate sprint. The four leaders are Joachim (US Postal), Flickinger (AG2R), Hulsmans (Quick Step) and Veneberg (Rabobank). They have nearly ten minutes on the peloton...

Through the next intermediate sprint. There is one more left. Now Kelme has joined Cofidis in the chase...they might seriously lessen the lead, but catching them will be very, very hard.

We see that Liberty rider Koldo Gil had a minor fall into a ditch, but is up on his bike and riding again. With the rain now, we should be looking out for crashes...9.40 for the leaders. Cofidis and Co. aren't helping much.

Miguel Martin Perdiguero had a puncture a bit earlier(Saunier Duval-Prodir). No worries though... the group isn't pushing that hard today. Raining again now, off and on.

At the last intermediate sprint, at Vinuesa, it was Joaquim, then Flickinger and then Hulsmans. Behind, some work is being done in the peloton that has reduced the gap by nearly a third - 6.21 for the 4 leaders now. Phonak is now helping the Cofidis and Kelme boys at the front of the pack.

The Rabobank car comes up to chat with Veneberg. Likely working on the end-game strategy for this final section of the road.

The riders just pass the three hour mark. The four men in the break are still working well together. Fabio Sacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is nearly off the back of the peloton... the pace has definitely gone up. The riders are in sunlight with ominous dark clouds behind them.

Maybe there's still a tiny, tiny chance that the peloton comes back...5.58 for the leaders. Of the 4 leaders, Kevin Hulsmans is the fastest, on paper. Flickinger is pretty fast too...but Joachim and Veneberg will probably have to find another way.

Kelme really seems to want this one for Valverde, and Cofidis is working for O'Grady, but it looks like they've left it too late.

So it's looking like there is a chance the peloton can catch these guys, but it will be close. The four are working well together. Flickinger pulls off the front and Joachim pulls through in the break. They are taking fast turns, all still pulling to try to keep away.

Now the Saeco boys are moving back to the front, with Di Luca! Maybe they will assist the others, or maybe just put Di Luca clear, out of the wind.

4.30 for the leaders! Let's say that the 4 will need a good 3.30 to survive at 20 kms from the end...and now the T-Mobile boys moving to the front as well, but no Fassa in sight yet. They know that today's finish doesn't really quite Ale-jet anyway.

4.15...it's getting tense now.

The Powerful Pinks are setting things up for Zabel. This finish does suit him quite well. The pack is rolling along like a steam-roller. It's remarkable how the USPS boys aren't mixing between the chasing teams, hindering them...that's something you see happening less and less in modern cycling.

It's a full-fledged PTT now - a Peloton Time Trial! 5-6 teams chasing, a little over 21 kms left. The gap is just around 4 minutes.

17.00 CET. Wow, the lead has dropped to 3.20 now!! To think we thought it was over, half an hour ago! After some nice naptime, the peloton has finally decided to wake up and make this a race. Yee-haw!

The 4 are still working together nicely, but let's not forget that they have been up front for over 100 kms now...

Joachim will still have the Gold Jersey if he gets caught... he just has to make sure that he doesn't get spit out the back of the peloton if they get pulled in. Now Lampre is helping a hand as well, Astarloa must be feeling well.

The wind is to the leaders' disadvantage, not to mention the long, looong roads...you can see 2-2.30 minutes away on those roads. And 2.30 for the leaders...looks like they're done...who would have thought? The sprinters will start to tussle for position before long if this keeps up.

And the jumpers will try to get away at the last small climb before the finish! 17 kms to go. The roads are not quite wet, and not quite dry...

You can tell the leaders are tired now. The weather is threatening, but not really striking yet - but the gap is 1.42, man! The leaders are bonking, and the peloton is going HARD!

Van Heeswijk, if he can take a good time bonus in the sprint finish, might keep his Gold Jersey away from his teammate. The way things are going, though, Joachim might not be able to stay with the peloton once they get caught.

Cofidis and Telekom are really driving it. Looks like DP contributer Bingen Fernandez may be getting some work in there. The US Postal team car comes up to the break, which now only has 1' 20". Bruyneel probably told Joachim something like, "you're screwed." Or maybe, "Relax so you don't get dropped once you're caught."

17.10 CET. 52 seconds the gap, 12 kms to go.

Joachim sure enough looks like a passenger in that break now.

The front of the peloton is a mass of pink now, with T-Mobile hammering home this fabulous chase. The leaders are now riding over wet roads...let's hope the peloton doesn't encounter any problems with them.

The gap is down to 30". Other guys that can sprint uphill are Horillo and Paolini... The peloton is now spread all across the road... looks like a lot of teams are trying to bring their guys into position for what will be a bunch sprint. 10 kms to go.

The four are in sight of the peloton now...which will no doubt devour them soon enough. Joachim still sits on the back of the break, doing no work. The peloton is streaming along the curving road.

7 seconds at the 8 km mark, and the motorcycles are still between them...disgraceful. Attack by Hulsmans! But to no avail.

Everything back together, at 7 kms from the finish! Amazing!

Under the 6 to go arch. Now it's raining hard at the finish, and the roads are slippery! It's coming down in buckets at the line now!

5 km to go!

Van Heeswijk moving to the front at 4 kms. The peloton is still spread fairly wide on the run-in. Kelme has some boys trying to pick things up at the front. And the Vini Caldirola guys are there, for Ggarzelli, who can sprint uphill as well!

They are going into some wide sweepers, and these are really stretching things out finally. Zabel is dropped from the peloton for some reason, maybe a crash?! No, a puncture. Zabel is gone for the sprint! An attack by Paolini on the small climb! He's got 20-30 meters! What a powerful jump, wow, impressive! Paolini is going Bettini-style, and the peloton is breaking...

Paolini is joined by a few other riders, a Fassa and Rabo rider among them - hard to tell in the rain. Things are slowing down again, everything back together there.
The roads look like glass. This could get sketchy.

A Kelme rider pulling at the front now, Klier in 2nd position. Less than a km to go, lots of rain here. A small group of 20 riders is loose up front from the peloton. Horillo attacks, Vino takes over and starts to sprint!!

Freire is there too, and Heras. there was absolutely no stopping of Valverde, who takes 20 seconds bonification...and we're not even counting the ruptures in the peloton. Valverde jumped out from behind the leadout and went up the right-hand barriers, O'Grady on his wheel. He then drifted back towards the middle of the road, saluting the crowd as he crossed to take the win! Valverde is gaining another one on the leaders in the victory standings, Petacchi and Boonen.

Valverde had a good 7 bike lengths at the finish! And the peloton is split to pieces. It will be interesting to see what time splits emerged in that last section of road. Not sure where Joachim or van Heeswijk finished.

Valverde gave his Italian mirror image Cunego a lesson today - Valverde started today only a little over a minute back on GC. He could have moved very close to Gold with this win. He accepts a large golden trophy, and now sprays champagne on the already wet crowd.

Joachim takes the lead in the GC! 16 seconds ahead of Van Heeswijk, and 22" before his other teammates...what a day for the Luxembourgian domestique! Joachim and Van Heeswijk finished 15" behind Valverde, but it was close enough to keep the Posties in the Gold Jersey.

Evans and Vinokourov (T-Mobile) were on the good side of that split at the end, and picked up 15" or more on a lot of their rivals. Hamilton lost 5" to them. Sastre lost 5", Sevilla lost 15". Beltran and Landis both also lost 15".

Caucchioli lost 1' 18" today. So did Zabel, and that puts an end to his hopes for the Gold Jersey this year.

But O'Grady now has taken the Points Jersey with his 2nd place finish. He is now 4 points up on Freire.

Well, that was sure a big change at the end of the day. Thanks very much for reading!